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Comment by michh | Hacker News Reader

even if they don't have access to the actual data, the US government has the option to order Microsoft to switch these essential government services services off. For example, as a means of pressuring the Dutch government into supporting the American annexation of Greenland.

Or even, post-Greenland, to force the Dutch to give Trump the Dutch Caribbean islands off the Venezuelan coast as well (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao).

If I were a Dutch member of parliament, I would be insisting this particular vulnerability to extortion be addressed as soon as possible. Of course, the US can still threaten to, at worst, nuke us all to smithereens but let's hope they're not willing to go that far.

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Which has happened before and is the reason why the International Criminal Court is moving away from MS365 [0]

This prompted me to try OnlyOffice, and man is that nice. I do like LibreOffice, but 2 things bug me: It just looks old. And second, I have, since the dawn of time (and the Sun's Star Office) had issues just telling the software: "This is a Dutch doc, apply Dutch spelling and Grammar Checks". It has never worked well, even Firefox text fields work better. But with OnlyOffice it seems to work well so far, and also, it will be much much more recognizable by ex-MS Office users. It hear the interop with MS formats is also better.

[0] https://www.techspot.com/news/110095-international-criminal-...

> the US government has the option to order Microsoft to switch these essential government services services off

They can also order MS and Amazon and Google and Apple to switch off services on which most of the economy relies, and which most devices require to function.

But if they do that, the Dutch government has the option to pull ASML and its services (like maintenance, parts) from the US, which will cripple its chip industry. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a remote shutdown built into their devices.

The prime-minister in waiting has said that there will be a cabinet post for digital security, and Parliament has expressed in the same motion that they are worried about dependence on foreign cloud services as well.

Note: legally, the Netherlands can't give Aruba or Curaçao to the US as in the constitutional framework of the dutch kingdom they are seen as sovereign entities.

Bonaire then?

Bonaire is a special municipality of the Netherlands, so I think they could give that away.

Don't they have responsibilities to ensure basic right for their citizens?

Not sure they can transfer while the US practice the death penalty or penal slavery.

I'm aware. I just think the Trump administration would say "Do it anyway".

Legality is meaningless unless it's backed by force, as people are finding out all over the place.

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